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IMDB rating: 6.30 Plot: After gaining experience with the football club Newcastle United, Santiago Munez (Becker) gets a huge break when he’s transferred to Real Madrid. |
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Plan to open my own boarding facility…need your opinions?
Hello everyone! I am embarking on a journey to open my own horse boarding facility! I am so excited eventhough I am only in the begining stages of planning the build and searching for appropriate sites (and funding!) but I hope to open with in the next few years.
So, my question to you all is: what do you look for in a boarding facility. And what amenities can you not live with out? What would your dream be for your bording facility? My goal is quality, afordability, and luxuray all at the same time! I just love the horses and want the best for them and thier people. II also want the happiest place for my own horses to live. I am open to your suggestions! Thank you a zillion times over!
Insurance, got it. Good idea! Thank you!
Thank you all so far! It is great to hear from other facility owners! Your experience in owning a facility is invaluable. I have decided that I do not want a huge facility, maybe 25 horses (excluding my own), and no stallions. I would prefer to have a policy that everyone is welcome regardless of discipline or ability. My only requirment will be respect and responsibility to each other and the animals on my farm. Thanks again!
Also, I have extensive experience and education with horses, I am not a novice. I am really just interested in what will draw and retain clients and make the borders happy! Thanks!
You guys are great! Thannk you! I was already planning on my entire farm being on the same worming schedule. Since I work for a vet I have a lot of health care knowledge.
Insurance; liability, fire etc. Bad stuff happens, even to good people and horses. Make sure that you are covered so a little accident doesn’t end your business. Go for it, and Good Luck!
roscoedeadbeat | Jan 26, 2009
My family boarding facility has 29 box stalls 12×14 feet. Each stall has automatic watering systems too. Two locker rooms for boarders. My own personal tack room. A wash stall with hot and cold water. Three cross tie sections, and one two tying posts. An office with heat and AC with a window that looks into the arena. Inside the office are extra large washer and dryer for blankets and such. The inside arena is 200×100ft san is about 4-6inches deep. The arena has two very large doors on either end as well as the two entrance ways from the stalls on either end. The isle has two bay doors at either end.
Outside there paddocks range from size size to fit different amounts of horses. There are 3 large pastures that are rotated every week. For fencing we use electro braid, inexpensive easy to maintain, harmless to the horses (visible to the horses) and it does a good job(nice little jolt!).
I have a round pen made of solid wood about 7-8 feet tall. An outside jump course the size of a dressage ring. Then along the hay field we have multiple cross country jumps.
Our hay barn is 75 feet from out stables just in case of a fire in the hay our boarding barn will not be harmed.
Laura P | Jan 26, 2009
well, over-all what i look for in boarding is:
clean- the whole facility, pastures, stalls, tack room needs to be clean. I cannot not stand going to a boarding facility and it all be dirty, of course it’s a barn and it’s not going to be perfectly clean, but there is a difference between a dirty nasty barn, and a clean barn.
stalls- they need to be tidy, and no stary nails, broken wood, etc.
also, it’s good to have all indoor if possible. an idea i have seen at local barns is all stalls are indoor, but they have a ‘run’ it’s a gated outdoor stall, but the gate is attached to the indoor stall and all you have to do is open that gate and it’s an indoor/outdoor stall. hope that makes sense!
owner/trainer- needs to be nice, accepting, willing to help. I’ve been to a barn where the trainer/owner is only in it for the money, not there to actually help and teach the riders.
space- there needs to definetly be enough space for my horse to be comfortable, not only in stalls but in pastures. definetly do not over board and have enough speac for all horses.
feed- i cannot stand it when i go to a barn and the feed is open and not closed up in it’s own place!
you should have a feed bin, so the feed is not just out in the open and flies everywhere.
staff- have enough staff to clean, train, look out. definetly have someone out at the barn 24-7. you cannot own a boarding facility with 15+ or under horses and leave it un-supervised throught the night.
Good Luck and I hope everything works out for you!!!
:. Nick.J.Luva .: | Jan 26, 2009
Good luck making a go of it! Try to locate yourself somewhere where there is a LOT of demand for additional boarding…
My parents own a successful boarding stable and have since the 90s–right now everyone is starting to sell off horses–we have no trouble keeping our barn full, but my parents know a few other stable owners who are going to have to shut down soon due to lack of incoming clients—scary!
Our basic facility is a 30 stall barn with a large heated tack room (fridge, hot/cold water, coat racks, saddle racks etc) , a large sand ring, 25 acres of trails, 35 acres of post on board fenced pastures, 10 acres of post on board fenced paddocks.
Providing too many luxuries and still making board affordable is quite hard—we’ve found that charging certain amounts for added luxuries is the best way to keep board low for those who can live without the extras, while still providing that extra little touch for those who want all of lifes luxuries for their equine friend…Our basic board include 3 feedings per day (2 flakes AM, 1 flake at 4PM and 2 flakes at 8PM), turn-out and bringing in, a 12×14ft stall with rubber mat flooring, shavings or peatmoss bedding and a mineral salt lick. Horses get warm water in the morning and evening and a heated stock tank during the day. We have a large outdoor sand ring, 25 acres of groomed, wood-chipped trails and our property connects to about 10 hours of trails that boarders can use. We clean the stalls 3-4 times weekly.
Extras include:
Blanketing
Health Care–if your horse is injured and you dont have time we will take care of it (ie eye drops, cold hosing etc)
Exercising–lunging or riding
Grooming
Additional Stall Cleaning
Trailering
Showing horses that are for sale to prospective buyers
and many others…
Good Luck with it all!
BB
BarrelBabe | Jan 26, 2009
Do research and more research. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
I’d list 3 versions: Bare minimum facilities, medium-functional with a few amenities and deluxe. Then get some estimates and start prioritizing items in these categories. It might also help to try to decide beforehand, what type of horses or level of riders you want to attract or that would need this facility in the areas you’re considering. Draw up a business plan. How about a poll to horse owners rating some items as most important, moderately important, and least important along with what breed or type of horse they have and what style of riding they do? How many horses do you want to accomodate and what services would you offer?
Some things I’d consider essential would be a round pen, covered or indoor riding arena, large box stalls, a very wide barn aisle and good-sized, secure tack room. A feed room and a storage room for things like forks and wheelbarrows is also helpful, and I’d put a big utility sink in there too. I’d offer stalls with runs behind them and a choice of stall, turnout or combination.
I’ve seen several barn designs that incorporated an arena of various sizes as the barn aisle or in between rows of stalls and that can be a functional design depending on how you set it up.
I’d also research stall flooring and drainage options. Will you want hot water in the barn? A bath stall or wash rack? What about placing a soda machine somewhere for the riders?
I’d also decide well in advance if I were ever going to have or accept a stallion and if there was any possibility of this I would build a heavy duty, high-walled stallion stall free-standing separate from the other stalls with separate turnout space and secure double fencing.
Atigrad0 | Jan 26, 2009
covered arena, round ring, wash rack, place where you tie them up while grooming, maybe lockers, paddocks/pasture, stalls, and to attract people is a turn out pasture for stall horses because most people don’t have this, and a tack room where people can keep their bridles and saddles, and for the trail riders, a very easy trail access (one with no or little roads to it)
Kathy E. | Jan 26, 2009
I always look for cleanliness, I like a barn that doesn’t have cob webs all over it etc,
Also a place with good pastures and a knowledgeable staff that, are nice. Those are the most important things.
Bruno M. | Jan 26, 2009
You not only need good comprehensive insurance, you need a good contract lawyer. All of your boarders need to sign contracts that spell out terms and conditions to protect you as the owner. Depending on your locale you’ll need to make sure horses are proven to be registered with animal services /or vaccinated against the prevalent diseases in the area. Make sure you are aware of and follow all building codes and zoning laws. And get a good grading company with soils and hydrology (water flow) knowledge
palomino | Jan 26, 2009
http://www.tlcrocearch.com/portfolio/por tfolio-view.aspx?itemid=27 Go to this link
friesianlover20 | Jan 26, 2009
Good for you for doing the research!
At one time I considered opening a boarding facility, so I did quite a lot of research on it too. I think some of the most important things that boarders want are: an indoor arena (just makes it so much easier during the bad weather months), adequate space and shelter, a round pen (not mandatory, but I know people who have switched barns for one), grooming stalls, good/knowledgeable trainers (it’s easy for you to have trainers pay YOU to teach at your barn, and if you have a nice facility they will), and most of all – an attentive BO. Other perks would be trails to ride on (my barn even offers a cross-country course), and clinics on the weekends.
Marketing your barn is one of the most important things you will do. For example, are you going to be a barn for top quality show horses or for more of the pleasure rider? English or western or both? Hire a graphic designer (unless you have a creative friend or you yourself are good at art) to create a nice, professional logo and even a slogan. Have your own ‘barn colours’.
It can be really tough to make enough money just doing boarding. Have you considered getting your coaching license and doing lessons and/or training? Prospective boarders will quite possibly want lessons and if you aren’t hiring riding teachers to come to your barn and they don’t have a trailer…
Advice – go to a horse forum (email me if you would like some suggestions on what forum) and type up a little survey kind of like this one. You will get GREAT answers. Call local barns and ask if you can interview the owner for tips that you never would have thought of just in your research. For example, I know one BO who lost a client because when the client came to visit her horse, the horse never had any water. This was not because they weren’t giving the horse a full water bucket, it was because the horse kept knocking the water out. To fix this, they placed the water bucket into a holder on the stall wall. Little tip – get heated waters! It will save you so much effort in the winter. And I would personally stay away from automatic waters, because you can’t see how much the horse is drinking and could miss a symptom.
So, this is a lot of info, lol, but I hope it helps. People always told me you can’t make it as a new boarding facility and they’re wrong – if you do the research, you can do it. Good luck and feel free to email me with any other questions – I’m no expert but I’ll do my best.
kitogirl | Jan 26, 2009
First, I would recommend buying an already built horse stable and you can add on and redo from there, It will save a lot of time and money.
Liability is obviously important but as far as facilities; heated wash stalls, large well lit indoor arena, stall isles should also be well lit, multiple pastures with small groups 3-5 horses per pasture, on site vet is nice, large tack rooms with some sort of security; around here tack rooms have been robbed a lot. horse safety is the key for all owners. outdoor round pen, arenas, and groomed trails. Perhaps a basic cross country cross and available jumps, barrels and poles. An instructor on site, only on certain days or hours. Having a judge stand or room for your indoor would be convenient, so you could hold your own shows.
EDIT: also starting a 4-h or pony club group for the younger boarders would be nice,
Dee | Jan 26, 2009
I have had to board a few times and here are some things that I liked and disliked. Hope they help.
Liked: I loved the group pens. My favorite place had nice pastures with three horses to a pasture. It had a covered shed and trees. The place also had an indoor arena which I LOVED in the winter and lots of trails for the summer. She had a few extra pastures for rotating. Of course most of her horse owners had a stall with runs but I (and my horse) preferred the pens. Having a couple at your place would be a great idea. Another thing I liked was everyone was on the same worming schedule. Made it so much easier and I did not have to worry about my horse getting worms from a non wormed horse or a horse on a different schedule or coverage. Having a heated bathroom in the winter is a godsend.
Disliked: One place had a sand mixture for their runs to try and keep the mud down. They had plastic under the sand and it was always working its way to the top and even though they had a run in stall with mats, sand always got in their food. Three horses got sand colic. Another place was so windy that it was a pain just to go out and brush my horse. On really bad days the debris and dirt would get in your eyes. We did not stay there long.
Jaime H | Jan 26, 2009
Stalls and pasture time, I think are the most important things. But cool things to have (that I would love if the place I boarded at had!) is a washer and dryer, like a mini laundry room, and a club house type thing, where there’s a TV, and a couch and stuff like that. Like the saddle club! lol.
Hot and Cold water in a cross tie station are good things to have too!
Good luck!
oramijustbadluck | Jan 26, 2009
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